My name is Eva, and I'm 14 years old. I'm in Secondary 3 English at Ulluriaq School. This was my favourite part of the book, Hana's Suitcase:

George couldn't wait to share the good news.
"Grandmother is here! She arrived last night!"
The children were overjoyed at the thought of seeing their grandmother. They were also worried. George and Hana's grandmother had been a refined woman who lived a cultured, comfortable life in the capital city of Prague. It was this generous grandmother who had given them their scooters. When they visited her in the big city, she always gave them bananas and oranges. But in recent years, she had been quite ill. How could she manage in this awful place? Not well, it turned out.
The children found her in an overcrowded attic, with only straw to sleep on, one of many old sick people. It was the middle of July and the attic was boiling hot.
The children visited as often as they could and tried to cheer her up, bringing crafts they made and singing songs they learned.
"This bad time will all be over soon," George told her.
"Mother and Father are counting on us all to stay strong," Hana said.
But in three months time, their grandmother was dead. Beyond Hana and George, few people took much notice. Death was all around them. In fact, so many people were dying so fast, that the cemetery was full. Clinging to each other, Hana and George tried to remember the happy times with their grandmother, and cried together.

I chose this part because it made me feel sad about their grandmother dying from a terrible sickness and bad treatment. Also, I felt bad for the children who were left alone without their relatives, like Hana and George who lost their loving grandmother.

 

I am Victor Annanack. I am in Secondary 3 English. I am 16 years old. I like to play basketball. The passage I chose is:

Father worked six days a week in a store. He was an athlete, known to almost everyone in Novo Mesto hor his love of soccer, skiing and gymnastics. He was also an amateur actor with a big booming voice that could be heard from one end of a playing field to the other. Because of this, Father was chosen to call the cross-country ski races over a megaphone, so that everyone could hear the action. He was a volunteer firefighter who, with other men from town, rode the fire engine to help people in emergencies.
The Brady family opened their home to artists of all kinds--musicians, painters and poets, sculptors and actors. When they were hungry, they could always find a hot meal, produced by Boshka, the family housekeeper and cook. And their artistic talents found and eager audience, which of course, included two impish children--Hana and George. Sometimes George was called upon to play his violin. Hana was more than willing to demonstrate her skill on the piano to anyone who would listen. And in the middle of the living room, there was a record player that was cranked up by hand. Hana played her favourite song-"I have nine Canaries"-over and over again.

I liked the part that was talking about the family's life. I felt happy because there were no Nazis at that time. They had fun with their friends. They were skiing and skating. When the Nazia came it was sad to read all their rules and restrictions. It would be sad to be ruled. They were ruled because the war was starting and the Brady family was taken away from their own home. Lots of Jewish people were taken away from their own home.

 

My name is Joe Keelan. I am 15 years old. My favourite sport is ice hockey. I chose this passage from Hana's Suitcase because it was my favourite:

George realized that, in the end, one of Hana's wishes had come true. Hana had become a teacher. Because of her suitcase and her story--thousands of Japanese children were learning about what George believed to be the most important values in the world: tolerance, respect, and compassion. What a gift Fumiko and the children have given me, he thought. And what honour they have given Hana.

This was my favourite passage because George realized that one of Hana's wishes came true: being a teacher. I chose this passage because Hana had many wishes, but her life ended early because one man tried to control everything. Hana's best wish was to become a teacher. Many years after, her wish came true. Hana's story will teach many children around the world about the Holocaust.